UK's most disturbed in Frankland jail

Some of Britain's most dangerous criminals are to be held at a new North East unit.Work is underway on the #14 million centre which is being built in the grounds of top security Frankland Prison in Durham.

Some of Britain's most dangerous criminals are to be held at a new North East unit.

Work is underway on the #14 million centre which is being built in the grounds of top security Frankland Prison in Durham.

The 80-cell block will house prisoners suffering from severe psychological problems and personality disorders.

They will come from all over the country to be treated by psychiatrists and psychologists.

Similar units already exist at Whitemoor, Rampton and Broadmoor High Secure Hospitals.

Prisoners suffering from Dangerous and Severe Personality Disorders (DSPD) will be treated at the centre.

The new service is being developed by the Department of Health, HM Prisons and the Home Office.

Experts will work to identify prisoners' personality disorders and the risk they present of re-offending.

The centre will be called The Westgate Unit and is due to open in February next year.

Dave Matthews, DSPD Project manager at Frankland, said: "The unit will provide an assessment and therapeutic treatment places in line with the Government's manifesto commitment to deliver 300 DSPD places by the end of 2004.

"There are other pilot sites across the country, which include HMP Whitemoor, Rampton and Broadmoor High Secure Hospitals.

"The DSPD programme is a joint initiative between the Department of Health, Home Office and Prison Service to develop and pilot new mental health services for people who are dangerous as a result of a severe personality disorder.

"The service will provide a comprehensive report that aims to identify the individual's personality disorder and the risk they present of re-offending.

"It is a programme to develop better ways of managing the small number of people who suffer from a severe personality disorder and who, because of this disorder, pose a significant risk to serious harm to others.

"The Westgate Unit will facilitate DSPD assessments and innovative therapeutic interventions which are based on sound theoretically based knowledge.

It will bring around 200 jobs to the area and already three of the top positions have been advertised with a Grade B psychologist getting a wage of up to #61,808.

He or she will oversee the development of the assessment and treatment process for the unit.

A Grade A clinical psychologist and a clinical or forensic psychologist, with salaries of up to #38,989 depending on experience, have also been advertised.

Dangerous criminals held in other high security units

Frankland's unit will be linked with Broadmoor, Rampton and Whitemoor, where high profile prisoners are kept.

*Yorkshire Ripper Peter Sutcliffe is held in Broadmoor Prison. He was jailed for life in 1981 for murdering 13 young women.

*Serial killer Dennis Nilsen, 55, is locked up in Whitemoor Prison. He was convicted in 1983 of murdering 12 young men who he lured to his house where he killed them and performed rituals on them.

*Convicted multiple murderer Jeremy Bamber is caged at Whitemoor Prison. The 41-year-old was convicted in 1986 of murdering his mother, June, nephews Nicholas and Daniel, his father, Neville, 61, and sister, Sheila Caffell, 27, at their Essex home in 1985.

*Kenneth Noye is in Whitemoor Prison serving a life sentence for the murder of Stephen Cameron in a savage road rage attack on a M25 slip road in 1996.